Countdown to Russia: days 5 & 4. Passport lost and found.

Final visit to the Russian consulate for a while, I hope. They're satisfied with the translation of the deed poll and charge me £20 per page for checking the accuracy. The consul then talks to me about changing my surname in my Russian passport - either do it in Russia, or it'll take up to 9 months if done through the consulate. He waves my deed poll and says: "It's not really a legal document to us, nor to the British government, for that matter." And that's after I'd spent around £200 legalising it, translating it and going to and from London.

Inside I'm screaming, trust me.

I want to tell him that it bloody well is a legal document in this country, that the passport office certainly thought so when they issued my new passport, but I just don't have the energy. His attitude makes me wonder whether it all makes any difference at all to whether I'll encounter trouble at the border.

Coffee with Georgia, lively fellow Rough Guides person who'll be covering the northern half of Peru. I answer questions and share travel tips.

Second tick-borne encephalitis jab. If you pay attention to the doomsday posters on the wall, you'd think that pretty much anyone in Europe's in immediate danger of dying from it.

Everybody knows that the plague is coming
Everybody knows that it's moving fast...
Leonard Cohen, "Everybody Knows"

Try to collect Steve's passport from the Chinese visa section, only to encounter unexpected trouble. Text Steve: "They've lost your passport. Am waiting while they look for it." Steve has kittens. It turns out that it was erroneously given to some guy who wandered off with it without checking that he was given the right passport. Luckily, he returned it straight away, or it would've been the end of the (train) line for Steve.

Most hostels booked. Am debating whether to look up my mother's third cousin's daughter when in Novosibirsk.

Bryn's sent me the text; it seems to be all in order.

Working steadily on the Chile chapter. It's going to be a tough last two days.